Bend Magazine

Central Oregon Life and Style

Subscribe to Bend Magazine
Digital Issues Renew Subscribe
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Adventure
  • News & Features
    • Business
    • Community
    • Culture
    • Heritage
  • Food & Drink
    • Beer & Libations
    • Restaurant Guide
  • Events
    • Things To Do Around Bend This Week
    • Giveaways
    • Calendar
  • Bend Home + Design
    • Digital Issues
    • Resource Guide
  • Back Issues
  •  $0.00 - 0 items
You are here: Home / Culture / Heart of Oregon Corps Instills Skills, Optimism in Youth

Heart of Oregon Corps Instills Skills, Optimism in Youth

Published March 1, 2018

Written by Ted Taylor

Heart of Oregon Corps empowers marginalized youth to make powerful changes.

Heart of Oregon Corps in Bend, Oregon

Photo by Abacus Photography

As Sarah Larocque-Fields continued the downward spiral of family drug addiction that included homelessness, crime and jail time, she considered herself broken beyond repair. But when the then-24-year-old became pregnant, she was determined to fix herself, raise her child drug-free and end the cycle of substance abuse that took the life of her brother and mother—and she turned to Heart of Oregon Corps to help.

Bend nonprofit Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC) is in the fixing business. They do so by giving at-risk young people the tools—quite literally—to turn their lives around, pursue educational goals and gain real-world work experience. Youth earn wages, stipends, and scholarships that increase economic self-sufficiency and financial literacy.

After meeting with HOC (her new baby girl in the stroller next to her during the interview) and being accepted into its AmeriCorps program, Larocque-Fields found herself in the Sisters wilderness working on wildfire prevention projects. It wasn’t long before she was leading the crews. She then moved on to building homes for needy families, all the while earning her GED through three months of college courses.

The key to HOC’s nearly twenty years of success is enrolling young people who truly want to make a change in their lives. “It gives you every single thing you need to be the person you want to be,” Larocque-Fields said. “It’s up to you to use the tools they give you.”

Because HOC is community-service based, it’s a society that benefits from the labor of volunteers like Larocque-Fields. “The projects our youth complete keep our community beautiful and healthy,” said HOC Executive Director Laura Handy.

Larocque-Fields’ success story comes full circle. Now 34, she spent nearly a decade working for BendBroadband and now works for a local real estate agent. And she serves as the secretary of Heart of Oregon’s board of directors. “I inspire myself when I think about all the things I’m doing,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what I’m doing ten years from now.”

Volunteer Spotlight: Mimi Ladine

Heart of Oregon Corps volunteer Mimi Ladine in Bend, Oregon

Mimi Ladine began volunteering with Heart of Oregon Corps when she moved to Bend three years ago. Ladine is a mentor with the program and helps students with everything from schoolwork to getting signed up for healthcare. “A lot of negativity exists in the world today,” she said. “I think that’s why it’s more important than ever to instill optimism and hope in young people. People should work together to ensure that students have the opportunities and support to achieve their dreams.”

Share This Article
« A Swimming Chance For Fish On The Crooked River
Escape Into The Woods On The McKenzie Highway »
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Newsletter

Sign Up Here

sponsor

Best Restaurants in Bend Central Oregon
  • Bend-
  • La Pine-
  • Madras-
  • Maupin-
  • Prineville-
  • Redmond-
  • Sisters-
  • Sunriver

Heritage

The legacy of Bend’s Skyliners ski club lives on

Two dollars was all it took to create one of the most enduring legacies in Bend’s ski history.

Where to Find the Real Haunted Houses of Bend

It was a dark and stormy night…” goes the often-mocked cliché used by wannabe mystery writers.

The Other Quarantine: A Bend Family’s Fight to Overcome Polio

Like coronavirus, the first major outbreak of polio in the U.S. struck in New York, in 1916. The scourge spread west, gripping the country with fear along its trajectory.

We also recommend

5 places to snowshoe near Bend this winter

A hot toddy with a twist from Bend’s Pine Tavern

How former NFL star Vernon Davis joined Riff Coffee’s advisory board

Bend’s Richard James Yozamp brings street art home

Somewhere That’s Green, Bend’s whimsical new plant store

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 · Oregon Media LLC

Bend Magazine: About Us · Contact Us · Advertise
Company: Publisher's Letter · Oregon Media, LLC
Subscribe:
Give a Gift · Subscriptions

Pledge for the Wild

Never see this message again.